for the (pretty) new word files...

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 9/12/06, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> I can't remember if this was nominated before, but I just came across
> the verb "pretext" and the verbal noun "pretexting" that had been
> unfamiliar to me (although reasonably transparent).  Some definitions
> from early cites:
>
> pretexting, the practice of gathering private information under false pretenses
>
> the practice of "pretexting," in which "information brokers" call
> financial institutions and obtain personal account information by
> posing as customers
>
> There are 110 Nexis hits for "pretexting", of which 100 are from
> 2006.  The first is 2001, though.

Here's a 1992 cite...

-----
http://groups.google.com/group/bit.listserv.politics/msg/972118bce743d13a
bit.listserv.politics, Mar 12 1992
[...]
from the March 9, 1992 _Computerworld_
[...]
Morey said brokers typically have one or more SSA employees "under
contract" and pay $25 for each earnings history.  Another technique,
called "pretexting"," is to get the data by phone after claiming to be
an SSA employee from another office where the computer is down.
-----


--Ben Zimmer

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